3 Count: B.I.G. Lawsuit

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1: Notorious B.I.G. Estate Files Pre-emptive Lawsuit Over Song Sample

First off today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that the estate for the Notorious B.I.G. has filed a preemptive lawsuit, seeking a declaratory judgment that The Notorious B.I.G. song “The What” is not a copyright infringement of “Can’t Say Enough About Mom”, which was written by Leory Hutson and Michael Hawkins.

The B.I.G. estate admits that the late rapper sampled the song but says that the use is de minimis and fair use.

The lawsuit follows a notice of copyright infringement that was sent to B.I.G.’s label, Bad Boy Records. The two sides negotiated but, according to the B.I.G. estate, Hutson wanted 50 percent ownership in the newer work and 50 percent of the revenue, despite the sample being limited to “two nonsequential tones.” Unable to reach a settlement, the B.I.G. estate opted to file suit first.

2: Saudi Arabia Government Blocks The Pirate Bay (And More)

Next up today, Ernesto at Torrentfreak writes that The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Culture and Information has ordered all ISPs to block access to The Pirate Bay. Though the reasons for the blockade are unknown, the site is currently unavailable on all but one of the nation’s IPSs.

Other piracy-oriented sites were also blocked including Torrentz.eu and Rarbg.com. However, the sites were not blocked with a green warning page that indicates they were found to be in violation of Islam. Instead, they have a blue warning page that does not have a clear meaning.

Saudi Arabia is known for heavily censoring the Internet, including sites that it feels are pornographic, anti-Islam or otherwise offensive. The pornography section of The Pirate Bay has long been blocked but the site itself remained one of the top 50 most popular sites in the country.

3: Film Pirate Tweet Leads to Arrest

Finally today, Natasha Prince at The Independent Online reports that, in South Africa, a tweet led to the arrest of a suspected film pirate, who allegedly leaked a movie to The Pirate Bay before its release.

According to the report, an investigator for the South African Federation Against Copyright Theft (SAFACT) was monitoring tweets about whether anyone had seen the film Four Corners, a local movie due to hit theaters on Friday.

When other users began to to respond that they had, SAFACT tracked the film back to The Pirate Bay, where it had been leaked by a user with the name “machos123”. The police then used the information to track down the alleged leaker, Majedien Machos Norton, and have him arrested. Norton is currently out on bail but faces multiple copyright-related charges.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.

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